Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes Sarfaraz Khan has scored more runs than anyone should to make a place in the Indian team. Khan has been in red-hot form in the domestic circuit but he was ignored by the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel for the upcoming Test series against Australia.
Khan has returned with scores of 5, 126*, 75, 20, 162, 15*, and 28* in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. Furthermore, the 25-year-old from Mumbai was in sublime form in the previous season, scoring 982 runs. The right-hander had also scored 928 runs in the 2019-20 season but despite performing so consistently he hasn’t been able to catch the selectors’ eyes.
The 25-year-old continued his good show as he scored 125 runs in the first innings of the recent Ranji Trophy clash against Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Speaking on Akashvani on JioCinema, Aakash Chopra said, “It is an extremely legit question because he has scored more runs than anyone should score to come into the Indian team. If you score so many runs, the expectation is that you will get an opportunity.”
Chopra feels Khan could have made his Test debut if he was part of the Test squad as Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out. In the absence of Iyer, either Shubman Gill or Suryakumar Yadav will bat in the middle order.
“To be very honest, hypothetically, if Sarfaraz was there, there was a possibility that Rahul would have opened, Shubman would have had to wait, just like Ishan Kishan waited for him even after scoring a double century, and you might have given a debut to Sarfaraz Khan at No. 5. I am with you, we are all saying that you should play Sarfaraz.”
On the other hand, the renowned commentator also shed light on Suryakumar Yadav’s performances in the ODI format. SKY hasn’t been able to grab his chances in the 50-overs version but Chopra feels the right-hander hasn’t received many chances.
“In my opinion, the first thing is that he hasn’t got that many chances. Let’s be fair, if you give him opportunities, his performance will improve. The number at which he bats is actually not easy.”
“I will keep him in the mix and have a lot of expectations of runs from Suryakumar Yadav, I will be very honest about that.”
The first Test match between India and Australia will be played in Nagpur from February 9.
